Sharing the Universe – Summative Evaluation Report

The Sharing the Universe (STU) project was funded by NSF in 2007 to develop and make available resources and supports to deepen and broaden the education and public outreach (EPO) of amateur astronomy clubs who are members of the Night Sky Network. To achieve this goal, the project funded a development group: the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and a research group: Institute for Learning Innovation. These two groups were to work as partners, both to study the barriers and challenges that existed for amateur astronomy clubs to educational outreach, and to apply what was learned from those studies to develop tools and supports that clubs could use to engage in more and better educational outreach. Inverness Research was contracted as the external evaluator to conduct the summative evaluation of the Sharing the Universe Project, but also actively participated in monitoring the progress of the project, its evolving theory of action, the partnership and its work over time. In this way, Inverness also played to a lesser degree a formative evaluation role. This summative evaluation report presents findings related to the reach and impact of the resources produced on the clubs, the partnership, and the capacities built within the Night Sky Network through the STU project. The report inclues the survey instrument used in the study.